6950/6970 or 2x nvidia

[Skidder]

Right I absolutely definitely am buying parts for my system today. I've been working such long hours I just haven't had the time to finalise the build following this thread:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18351693

It occured to me that the only reason I was going ATI was because I run three monitors.

One thing I hadn't really considered was retaining a second card in the build. I have 8800gtx tri sli at the moment so could keep one of those in.

I also have a basic passive ati something or other spare from a media centre build.

Any thoughts on whether to I should stick with the plan and go single card 6950/6970 with all three monitors or buy something of a similar budget (ie less than £300 and close to £200 would be nicer) from Nvidia and use a second card for the third monitor.

Is it possible to use a an Ati card just to run a monitor while using an Nvidia as the main card?

Using a 8800gtx in there is a bit of putting because of the extra noise, heat power draw but I will have more than enough PSU for any option.

(rest of system 2500k, 16gb ram, SSD, enermax 1000w) Thanks

 

[Skidder]

I think the ati 7 series are released soon so might as well wait as the older cards should drop in price?

Limited time to build and play means I'm needing to splurge now (plus I have a budget to spend on the business on hardware, I have to spend whatever I spend in one go so delaying would mean buying the GPU myself (and a higher spec processor to use the budget but I think 2500k is fine for me)

 

[Skidder]

Can I use the passive ATI card with an Nvidia card?

By the way I'm gaming at 1920*1200

 

[Skidder]

If you get a Z68 motherboard can't you run 1 or 2 monitors from the integrated GPU on the processor and 1 or 2 monitors from whatever graphics card you buy?

Really? Hadn't even occurred to me that would be a very elegant solution! Would that work ok?

(I wouldn't mind sticking to Nvidia just because I know the driver well)

 

[Skidder]

This is the motherboard I was planning on using:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-054-AK

(but not committed to it)

My main monitor is a 24 inch dell 2407 wfphc 1920x1200 Dvi

The other two are 19 inch 4:3 sonys Hs94p 1280x1024 Dvi

 

[Skidder]

It doesn't work with the Msi z68, it's either IGP or discrete, not both.

If the 3rd screen is not for gaming, then you can use your passive Ati card alongside any Nvidia card providing your going to be using W7.

I will be using w7, presumably you just use a basic windows driver for that card rather than catalyst

 

[Skidder]

That should be fine.

I'm a little wary of passive cards in hot cases, usually end up with artifacts or other issues. They work well in a media center etc but if they are near to a hot main card cooling can be an issue.

If you can't use the built in intel graphics, I recommend buying a basic sister card of the same chipset .. eg. Nvidia, or AMD with fan cooling. Then you'll only have a single driver to worry about and all the options for screen setup etc will be accessable. The sound of a tiny fan will be lost compared to the rest of the case noise.

The cards are around £40 ...

AD

Thanks (just realised it was you I bought the motherboard from this week, I received it, thank you just updated trust)

I can see the sense of that re the passive GPU. With solutions for the third monitor being more flexible than I have envisaged what would be the best card for £250 to £300 for gaming on my main monitor? Ati or nvidia

 

[Skidder]

Download the user manual here and have a look at page 34.

From that it would appear you can use the integrated GPU outputs at the same time as those on a graphics card.

You can use two of the 4 outputs on the motherboard (DVI, VGA, HDMI, DisplayPort).

You can connect your gaming monitor to the graphics card and the other 2 monitors to the motherboard using a HDMI to DVI cable if the monitors only have DVI connections.

Edit

It looks like the Sony monitors have a VGA connector as well so you could connect 1 to the motherboard with DVI and 1 with VGA.

thank you and thanks everybody else too, useful stuff

 

[Skidder]

Order placed went 6950 and plan to use the mobo connections for secondary monitors as above

can always add another later if need more juice. Thanks for the help

 

[Skidder]

Wait for the 7000 series

see post above (and I have good reason for not waiting, wait, I pay, don't wait, I don't)